Scary Time of Year

Less than two weeks to go before Halloween and as it falls on a weekend this year there are lots of opportunities to dress up and go out. Once again I ordered my costume on-line, www.buycostumes.com, but I did check out a few stores just to see what's out there.

Queen of Halloween is a temporary store set up at 416 queen St W, Toronto (416-504-8086) offering a limited number of mens, womens and kids costumes as well as accessories. I wasn't thrilled with the costumes as they seem to have the same ones that everyone else carries but their selection of Carnival/Mardi Gras masks was amazing! If you're in need of fun, false eyelashes check out their bin of assorted lashes marked at $2.99 a pair!

Party Packagers has to be my favourite place for Halloween merchandise. They have practically EVERYTHING you could image and more. Once again, not impressed with seeing the same costumes, but if you're having a party, go all out decorating your house, or need a few accessories to complete your costume this is definately the place to go. I can't remember half of what they have but here are some notable items listed by category.
Outside decorations: tombstones, coffins, skeletons, rats, body parts, gargoyles, fog machines (fog fluid, machine cleaner), bubble fogger and my ultimate favourite - skeleton flamingos!!!!!!

Indoor decorations/party supplies: blood spattered table cloths, gelatin hand and brain molds, test tube shot glasses, goblets, banners, centre pieces.

Costume Accessories: swords, shields, angel wings, halos, an amazing selection of hats, masks, wigs, boas, scars, scabs, fingernails, make-up, beards, sideburns, jewellery, gloves, stockings and of course scary contact lenses (wolf, zombie, cat, vampire to name a few).

Deblins Linens

I recently did an afternoon of shopping on Orfus Rd and stopped into Deblins to pick up a new shower curtain liner. They are offering 20% off all bathroom accessories (towels, mats, shower curtains, tooth brush holders, etc) during the month of October. They have some great, new bathroom sets.

Vaughan Mills

I was able to take advantage of the free shuttle to Vaughan Mills before it stopped running for the year (it's only offered May 1st until Sept 30th). Here are just a few highlights from that trip:

First stop was the huge La Senza store. They carry both new merchandise and deeply discounted "older" merchandise. If you're in need of a sports bra and don't want to pay the usually $50-$60 that most places charge, you're in luck as LaSenza has them for $9.99. I even got one for $5.99 as it was the last one left in hot pink. They carry a good range of sizes, A-E cup. I also picked up a couple of cute tees, that I think might be pj tops, but I don't care (see photos below).

The Laura store carries all three of their lines (Laura, Petite, Plus) and had summer tops marked down to $19.99 and dresses for $39.99.

Danier had a large portion of their merchandise marked down and it was hard to resist not buying one of the many beautiful jackets.

Guess was offering an additional 50% selected merchandise.

Town Shoes Outlet's deal was 25% off the purchase of a second sale item. They carry ladies shoes up to size 11.

Style Sense had ladies shoes as far as the eye can see. Lots of recognizable names: Madden Girl, Rocket Dog, Guess, Dollhouse, FLY London, Via Spiga, Tods, Stella McCartney, Betsey Johnson, Dolce & Gabbana. I actually touched a pair of $2,000 Diors - they were beautiful! They also had a great selection of boots and handbags.

The one disappointment was that Liz Claiborne was closing down. They only had about eight racks of clothing left in the store and everything was pretty much picked over.

Another Sample Sale

Toronto Sample Sale (TSS) is having another blowout taking place October 20th - 22nd (10am to midnight). Mens and womens designer clothing, as well as womens shoes, accessories and handbags will be available from 40-80% off such names as Paige, Diesel, Sinful, Affliction, William Rast, Roberto Cavalli, Prada, Dsquared and lots more.
Location: Le Parc Banquet Hall, Ballroom #3. 8432 Leslie St. Thornhill ON. www.Torontosamplesales.com